The
Delaware Valley had been inhabited by the
Lenape (or Delaware) Indians prior to European exploration and settlement starting around 1609, undertaken by the Dutch, Swedish and English. The
Dutch West India Company had established one or two
Delaware River settlements, but by the late 1620s, it had moved most of its inhabitants to the island of
Manhattan. This became the center of
New Netherland. West Jersey and East Jersey were two sections of New Jersey. The development of the colony of
New Sweden in the lower Delaware Valley began in 1638. Most of the Swedish population was on the west side of the Delaware. After the English re-established New Netherland's
Fort Nassau to challenge the Swedes, the latter constructed
Fort Nya Elfsborg in present-day
Salem County. Fort Nya Elfsborg was located between present day
Salem and
Alloway Creek. The New Sweden colony established two primary settlements in New Jersey: Sveaborg, now
Swedesboro, and Nya Stockholm, now
Bridgeport.
Trinity Church, located in Swedesboro, was the site of the
Church of Sweden for the area. The Dutch defeated New Sweden in 1655. Settlement of the West Jersey area by Europeans was thin until the English conquest in 1664. Beginning in the late 1670s,
Quakers settled in great numbers in this area, first in present-day Salem County and then in
Burlington. The latter became the capital of West Jersey. Before 1674,
land surveyors for New Jersey considered it as a
hundred and partitioned it into
tenths. West Jersey comprised five of the tenths. But demarcation of the boundaries awaited settlement, the
quit-rents the settlers would pay, and the land surveying which the money would purchase. Thus it took years and multiple surveys to settle boundary disputes.
Burlington County was formed on May 17, 1694 by combining the first and second tenths. At least three surveys were conducted of West Jersey.
Richard Tindall was surveyor-general of
Fenwick's Colony, the fifth tenth. ==Constitution==